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Thursday, 23 June 2016

Star Trek Online visits the 23rd century of two realities

Star Trek Online, which under normal circumstances is set in the early 25th century, will be opening up a new series of missions in the 23rd century, both the TOS version, and nuTrek! All this comes in a major expansion of the game, Agents of Yesterday, which will launch in July. Here's how Cryptic described what's ahead in their announcement:

Agents of Yesterday will allow players to create a new captain in Star Trek: The Original Series era and will set them on an adventure featuring classic story lines, locations, celebrities, and era-appropriate starships. In 2270, the year following the third season of the original series, the player will adventure with Walter Koenig, reprising his role of Chekov, and Chris Doohan, filling in for his father as Scotty. There is a new threat to the security of the Federation, and they are invading with hopes of overwhelming the past to destroy our future.

In addition to the ability to create a brand new Star Trek: The Original Series Starfleet captain, we will be introducing a new episode arc for players of every faction, the Temporal Initiative Resistance Reputation, a Temporal Operative Primary Specialization along with brand new Bridge Officer powers. Players who create their captains during the first six weeks of launch will also be able to participate in the new Temporal Agent Recruitment system for bonus personal and account-wide rewards, a new iteration of the popular Delta Recruitment system that released a year ago. This release is packed with content to keep you engaged in the classic Star Trek: The Original Series era - and beyond.

Missions will include follow-ups to classic episodes such as Arena, The Galileo Seven, The Tholian Web, and Journey to Babel. The game will also see lots of new ships, and uniform options. Continue below for more details. But first, here's a trailer:

Several new ships are being introduced to populate the new 23rd century setting. A design blog has laid out how the design team approached the new classes:

In Agents of Yesterday (AoY) we wanted to create ships in the spirit of Star Trek, the original series as much as possible. We decided they should be made to look like we had the same limitations the original team of creators in Star Trek TOS had in creating them. The lines are simple and very geometric. The ships, although elegant should look firstly utilitarian unlike other ST series where design tended to have a higher prerogative.

Of course that all starts with the classic constitution class:

A legendary 23rd century Starfleet vessel, the Constitution-class Cruiser regularly went where no one had gone before. A durable, versatile ship, it handled a variety of missions, including exploration, first contact, research, and system defense.

Another classic design returns, the Daedalus:

A starship design from the early years of Starfleet, the Daedalus-class Science Vessel still serves with distinction. With strong shields and a powerful sensor suite, the Daedalus-class is well equipped for missions of research and exploration in the final frontier.

While the rest are all new:

A versatile escort from the 23rd century, the Perseus-class Temporal Escort incorporated several state-of-the-art systems for the time, including the M6 Computer. Designed to provide rapid tactical analysis of the battlefield, the M6 had none of the troublesome drawbacks of its infamous predecessor.

Known for a distinctive set of four warp nacelles, the Gemini-class Temporal Cruiser inspired future starship engineers when designing the Constellation-class Cruiser. A tenacious vessel, the Gemini was often used by Starfleet as a weapons-system testbed in the field.

The agile Ranger-class was one of the most respected battlecruisers of the 23rd century. A tactical powerhouse, the Ranger was built for combat resolution. As a result, these vessels were often deployed on the front line in conflicts with the Klingons and Romulans.

You can find full specs of all these new ships in a STO blog post. Parallel designs form the 26th century (Enterprise-J era) will also be coming, specs of which have been detailed in another STO blog.

Inspired by the 23rd century Daedalus-class vessel, the Nautilus-class packs a tactical punch for a science vessel. Starfleet incorporated several new systems on the Nautilus, many of which involved nanotechnology developed in conjunction with the Borg Cooperative.

A futuristic take on the Perseus-class of the 23rd century, the Theseus-class escort utilizes an advanced science suite along with tactical systems. These powerful instruments augment the temporal weaponry found aboard the vessel, making its stout offense even stronger in battle.

Influenced by the legendary Gemini-class, the Sagittarius-class cruiser is a force to be reckoned with. Designed with team tactics in mind, the cruiser is known for sharing its strengths with fleet-mates. The ship’s impressive combat systems make it a workhorse on the battlefield.

Drawing inspiration from the 23rd century Ranger-class, the Paladin-class Battlecruiser is very tactically focused. It features a potent weapons platform, and a number of sophisticated maneuver systems make the Paladin a remarkably agile vessel for its class.

And that's not all! There are also a selection of designs contemporary to the 29th century USS Relativity. The full details of these have not been revealed yet:

Designed to face the greatest threats of the temporal battlefield, the massive Chronos-class Dreadnought is truly a force to be reckoned with. When the Temporal Cold War goes hot, Starfleet calls for the power of the Chronos. This ship is available to all factions.

While equipped with cutting-edge scientific technology, the Eternal-class was designed to fulfill a number of roles in the field. Built to operate alone on the frontier or as part of a fleet, the Eternal is a versatile part of 31st century Starfleet. This ship is available to all factions.

This raider from the future puts fear into the hearts of her enemies. An Ouroboros brings potent weaponry and tactical systems to the fight in whatever era she’s deployed in, making the raider a valuable asset in the Temporal Cold War. This ship is available to all factions.

All these ships and more will be available in the game, and can be purchased in one huge pack, which also includes an assortment of new uniforms; my favourite being the torn TOS variant!

Fewer details have been revealed about the nuTrek element, although interesting that alternate reality has now gained an official name, the Kelvin Timeline. We do have a basic premise for how we get there:

Spock, the legendary Starfleet officer, scientist and diplomat, accepted a mission to make a daring attempt to save the dying star Hobus. His mission was not successful, however, and the effects of the Hobus supernova have echoed though time and space. This series of events is now referred to as the “Kelvin Incident” by temporal agents and multi-spatial researchers.

The sheer destruction from that moment in time has weakened the barrier between our reality and one strangely similar to our own, leaving a strange temporal anomaly in its wake. While most are content to allow alternate realities to be, others have looked on them as unique opportunities to exploit, the consequences to the natives be damned.

Finally, in other news from the game, it has been recently announced that the game, which until now has been a strictly PC affair, will be launching this year on the X-Box One and PS4 games consoles. To enable that they have been busy redesigning the user interfaces to work with game controllers, and have also given the game's lighting a major overhaul (someone that will also be coming to the PC version). They put out a trailer for this news too:

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